Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced today that the Appellate Division reversed a trial court’s decision and re-instated an indictment charging official misconduct against a Piscataway school teacher who is alleged to have had sexual relations with an 18 year-old female student.
On February 4, 2014, Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz dismissed an indictment charging Adrian McConney, 38, of Piscataway with a single count of official misconduct.
The indictment was dismissed as the defendant’s trial was set begin in New Brunswick.
Prosecutor Carey said McConney had sexual relations with the student and therefore received a benefit as a public employee for committing an unauthorized act in violation of the official misconduct law.
The police investigation revealed that McConney, a physical education teacher and girls’ soccer coach, was arrested at his home on April 12, 2013 and was charged with the second degree offense after police investigators determined he had sexual relations with the student in February 2013.
The trial court erroneously dismissed the official misconduct charge under the premise that the act of having sexual relations with an 18-year old student was not otherwise violative of any law.
The Appellate Division reversed the trial court’s decision, and reinstated the indictment, holding “evidence of an unauthorized act can consist of a criminal act, violation of a specific policy, or a violation of a duty inherent to an official’s position.”
The Appellate Division found that an official role, such as being a public school teacher, can impose certain inherent duties and that since “Teachers stand as surrogate parents during the day [and should be] educating, not endangering, and protecting, not exploiting vulnerable children” the State had met its burden in charging official misconduct.
A new trial court sitting in New Brunswick will hear this matter since Judge Ferencz has retired.
No further dates have been set yet.